Andre Yoskowitz
29 Dec 2008 2:28
Giganews, the gateway used by millions to access Usenet, has reported that they have seen "unprecedented growth" over the past 12 months.
Newsgroups have been around since the 1970s as a source of information and file sharing and many argue today that it is safer and faster than BitTorrent.
Since the company increased retention levels to 240 days, growth has accelerated.
"During September 2008, Giganews completed storage upgrades which increased retention levels to 240 days," Giganews notes. "Shortly thereafter, Giganews' upload traffic jumped to a sustained level averaging well over 400 megabits per second, representing more than 4.3 terabytes of new user generated content and discussions per day. Giganews has seen steady upload growth throughout the decade, but the pace following the recent storage upgrade exceeded all expectations."
Giganews adds that "retention extending 'well beyond' 240 days should be ready by 2009." Giganews is known for their speedy upgrades so users shouldn't have to wait much longer than a few weeks.
A chart of the growth from the source: